日本食尚:日本Omikenshi的健康"胞食"

Japan has created some interesting and innovated products like selfie sticks, Bento lunchboxes and now, wood noodles.

日本創造出了不少奇趣產品，比如自拍杆、便當，還有如今的“木製麪條”。

A textile company, that makes fibre rayon, is taking the term 'going green' to a new level by using cloth-making technology to turn tree pulp into noodles.

一家生產人造纖維的紡織公司打算把做衣服的技術應用到食品上——用樹漿做麪條，達到了踐行“綠色生活”的新高度。

Omikenshi, based in Osaka, is turning indigestible cellulose that's mixed with konjac into fiber-rich flour, which the company calls 'cell-eat'.

大阪的“Omikenshi”公司將把混合了魔芋的不易消化的纖維素，加入到富含纖維的麪粉中，他們稱之爲“胞食”。

Konjac,also known as 'Devil's Tongue', is a yam-like plant grown in Japan, and is used in making other Japanese noodles like Shirataki noodles.

魔芋也叫“魔鬼之舌”，是一種生長在日本的植物，跟芋頭很像，常被用來做芋絲面等日本麪條。

Omikenshi's cell-eat is fat and gluten-free, low-carb alternative.

Omikenshi的這種“胞食”不含脂肪和谷蛋白，碳水化合物含量也低，是很好的替代食品。

It has just 27 calories per pound, compared to 1,538 calories in a pound of wheat.

相比一磅小麥的1538卡路里，它每磅只有27卡路里的熱量。

Omikenshi is betting on a health-food market worth 1.2 trillion yen in 2013, more than double the level two decades earlier according to Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency.

據日本消費者事務署統計，2013年Omikenshi在保健食品市場投資1.2萬億日元，是20年前的兩倍多。

'We're entering the food business,' said Takashi Asami, manager at Omikenshi's strategic material development department in a recent interview.

Omikenshi戰略物資發展部經理村上麻美在採訪中說：“我們將進軍食品行業。”

“Demand for diet food is strong and looks promising, while the Japanese textile market is saturated and threatened by rising imports'.

“減肥食品的市場需求很強，這一市場很有前景，而日本紡織品市場已經飽和，且面臨進口增加的威脅。”

Asami noted, other noodles that use konjac aren't flying off shelves, but the wood pulp adds more flavor and texture that the other noodles are lacking.

麻美指出，目前市面上的魔芋麪條不夠暢銷，但木漿麪條爲市場注入了新的風味和口感，而這正是其他同類產品欠缺的。

Omikensh plans to spend about 1 billion yen on manufacturing cell-eat in its textile plant.

Omikensh公司計劃在“胞食”項目上投資10億日元，在其紡織品工廠投入生產。

Production of the fiber-rich flour is set to begin next year at 30 tons a month.

富含纖維的麪粉將於明年投產，計劃每月產出30噸。

'It can be used as a substitute for wheat in products ranging from ramen, pasta, and Chinese dumplings,' Asami said.

麻美說：“它可以作爲小麥的替代品，替代你飲食中的拉麪、意大利麪和中國餃子。”

'We are discussing exporting it to China in the future as obesity is becoming a major problem for children there.'

“我們正在商討未來將它出口到中國，因爲肥胖在中國已經成爲兒童的主要健康問題。”